Australia taking applications for massive solar program

RachelPannett

CANBERRA (MarketWatch) -- The Australian government is calling for applications for its A$1.5 billion Solar Flagships program designed to accelerate the use of solar power technologies and green up the economy.

Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said the first round of the program, which closes Feb. 15, will target 400 megawatts of solar generation from commercially proven technologies.

Two projects will be selected--one solar thermal and one solar photovoltaic.

"Australia has a world-class solar resource and if we can make technology breakthroughs and drive the costs down, it has the potential to play a significant role in Australia's electricity markets in the long-term," Ferguson said in a statement.

Australian lawmakers earlier this year agreed a mandatory target to source 20% of national power needs from renewable sources by 2020.

Solar power accounted for just 0.1% of the country's total energy consumption in 2007, mainly because it is much more expensive than electricity produced from coal, of which Australia has an abundance.

But it does have advantages if costs can be overcome. Solar power can be generated anywhere that's sunny, it is deployable on any scale, it can generate power at the point of use, and it is cheap to maintain.

It also generates consistent power at the times of day when it is needed most.

Among the firms considering solar projects in Australia are Spanish energy and infrastructure company Acciona SA (ANA.MC), which in September said it was planning to build photovoltaic and solar thermal facilities starting in 2012, each with a generation capacity of between 50 MW and 100 MW.

U.S.-based Brightsource Energy--which counts Google Inc.
GOOG, +0.81%
Chevron Corp.
CVX, -1.73%
and BP PLC
BP, -1.72%
among its shareholders--has formed a consortium with Worleyparsons and Australian investment bank Macquarie Group Ltd. (MQG.AU) to bid for part of the government's Solar Flagships subsidy.

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